My logo I created was inspired by family crest from mideval and tribal times. I wanted to do something that had meaning that represented my family and some of our attributes. Google was definitely my friend when it came to this.  Two major things I utilized was the images of family crest found on https://www.google.com/search?q=family+crest&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjllbC29fXnAhWsna0KHdvtC_cQ_AUoAXoECBMQAw&biw=1239&bih=587&dpr=1.55 and the images for different symbols and meaning I used West African symbolism found at https://www.mindfueldaily.com/livewell/west-african-symbols/.  The process by which I made this logo was particularly intricate. I utilized eight or nine layers for this logo. I wanted to really utilize the gradient tool as well as the shapes tools. I also experimented with different brush strokes and text fonts. It took me a couple hours to come up with the final draft, but I am pretty proud of it. I knew no one would know what the symbols meant so I also added the meaning in writing by each symbol. Of course, creating each symbol in a creative way was the hardest part. I didn’t just want to place boring shapes on the logo, but rather make each on different, while still keeping some sense of uniformity in the logo itself. My favorite symbol in the project is probably loyalty or greatness. I got to be really creative with the circles and put the envelope a little more than I did with other parts of the logo. The other thing that I really wanted was to make the logo pop. I have a thin outline of the contrasting color, which I felt really gave the artwork a nice 3D look.  I wanted the design to have balance and I think the squares diamond and circles with the black and white contrasts create that. The background gradient also helps focus the eyes on the lines and really brings all the artwork together.  I showed my wife the final project in hopes that I could get a great critique and I did.  Happily, she was very impressed with my overall skills on this project.